CF students, faculty spend spring break giving back

Published: Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 8:27 p.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 8:27 p.m.

While most college students spent spring break reveling at the beach, two dozen College of Central Florida students and many staff members spent the time helping their fellow man and the environment.

One group traveled to Atlanta to help agencies lend a hand to the homeless and needy communities abroad, while a second contingent went to Mississippi to help restore reefs and communities devastated by tornadoes.

This was the third year CF students have participated in Alternative Spring Break, a mission of sorts that many colleges around the country have been involved with for years.

During this year’s outreach, the CF group that traveled to Atlanta served food to the homeless and helped package medical supplies for shipment to several towns in African.

Freshman Kayla Copas said it really opened her eyes to learn that many medicines are thrown out in the United States because of damaged packaging, even if the medicine is good. She said she soon realized how much “we (Americans) take things for granted.”

It was the 18-year-old’s New Year’s resolution to “give more of myself.”

“I felt like God wanted me to do this,” Copas said.

This year’s endeavor involved more than 100 participants working on a dozen projects in three states during the college’s spring break, which was March 18-22.

In Mississippi, students were based out of Biloxi. They also traveled to Hattiesburg to clean up after a recent tornado. The group also bagged oyster shells to be used to make artificial reefs and worked two days removing invasive and non-native plant species from coastal marshes.

Locally, volunteers traveled throughout Marion and Citrus counties to help with projects at Kimberly’s Center for Child Protection, Jessie’s Place and Interfaith Emergency Services. At Silver River State Park, students planted 1,500 long-leaf pines.

“I am thrilled that the Alternative Spring Break program has grown every year,” said Richard Kirk, director of the CF Honors Institute.

In 2011, CF’s first Alternative Spring Break included 10 students and staff, who worked with the Urban Mission Experience in Jacksonville. The group helped feed the homeless, sorted school supplies, created art projects with elderly disabled adults and distributed clothing to families.

In 2012, seven students and two advisers went to Miami, where they painted a house and worked with elderly Alzheimer’s patients.

Contact Joe Callahan at 867-4113 or joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeOcalaNews.

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